Bodybuilders look different from the others. It’s because of the fact that they do special exercises regularly and push themselves beyond their limits to strengthen their muscles. Day by day, they grow bigger and better.
They always feel a great sense of accomplishment after hitting the gym with proper workout sessions. Above all, they follow a strict diet to keep themselves as fit as a fiddle. They consume large amounts of protein so that they can achieve the shape of a clear-cut body. Though most of us dream to be bodybuilders, only very few of us get to taste the essence of it.
Today, we are going to talk about bodybuilding champ Kiran Dembla. She is among the very few (if not only) women from Hyderabad who sports a six-pack body and has represented the country in the World Bodybuilding Championship in Budapest.
Hailing from Hyderabad, Kiran Dembla was leading a very happy life. She had two kids and her husband was working with a multinational company in the city. She was leading the perfect life until one day she was diagnosed with a blood clot in her brain.
“I was shocked and so was my husband. That’s when I looked at the mirror and realised how much I had changed in the past decade. I weighed 75 kg then and looked like nothing from the time I was in college. I started feeling even more nauseated by the medicines the doctors prescribed. A postgraduate in music, I wondered what I was doing with my life,” Kiran tells TNM.
Today, the 45-year-old is a bodybuilding champion and a fitness trainer. She is among the very few (if not only) women from Hyderabad who sports a six-pack body and has represented the country in the World Bodybuilding Championship in Budapest. The list doesn’t end there. She is a Disco Jockey (DJ) and mountaineer who has so far trekked to the Mount Everest base camp thrice.
Kiran kept on nurturing her dream to be a bodybuilder. She began her ideal preparation, sweated it out day in and day out. Eventually, she went on to become one of the best bodybuilders.
“Initially, I had no plans to build my body or even a six-pack. Soon after I recovered from my illness, in 2007, I started attending yoga sessions along with a few of my friends. And this piqued my interest to join the gym. I started going to a gym in my neighbourhood and in 6-7 months, I managed to lose 24 kilos. I still remember how wonderful it was to feel light and young.
Kiran did a course to become a gym trainer. One day she told her husband that she wanted to open her own gym. For this, she rented out a flat and opened a mini gym. She says, “I sold all of my Jewellery for this gym and also took a loan. Within four months, our entire colony came to know about this gym”.
Kiran Dembla has trained renowned celebrities like Upasana Kamineni, Tamannaah Bhatia, and Ajay Devgn.
“After Upasana, I trained Tamannaah and Anushka Shetty for Mirchi and Baahubali. By then, I had started getting recognised as a celebrity fitness trainer. Rajamouli, Prakash Raj and a few others also have been my clients. While many of them opt for regular fitness training, some look for instant transformations to suit their roles in films. Either way, there is a lot of determination and discipline that goes into bodybuilding,” Kiran shares.
After a couple of years, in 2012, Kiran did workout to get a six-pack as she said, “building a fit body wasn’t just enough”. She started following a strict regime, and within eight months sported a six-pack.
Many people used to comment on her biceps and her dress, saying that she did not look like a lady. But none of these came in her way and in 2013, she made India proud by making her place in the World Bodybuilding Championship which was held in Budapest in Hungary.
Kiran has not participated in any bodybuilding championship in India as she says that no one in India looks at bodybuilding as a sport, especially when it’s a woman.
“Bodybuilding championships require women to wear a bikini and since I judge competitions here, I know exactly where people’s eyes wander when they see a woman in a bikini. Wherever I have been outside India, people enjoy it as a sport and bikini is not the issue,” Kiran says.
Apart from her fitness training, Kiran is also a DJ known by the name DJ Belle. “As I had done my postgraduation in music, I thought it was time I took my passion seriously. I attended a six-month course and did my first show here in Hyderabad. DJing is now keeping me quite busy,” Kiran adds.
It is worth mentioning here that Kiran has maintained six pack abs even at the age of 45 that is not possible without hard work, grit and determination. This is an answer to women who say ‘at this age it is not possible.’ “I have no super power. I am like everyone else. Fitness should be on everyone’s priority,” she reiterates.
